Student Wins Grant for Women’s Awareness Art Project

For Community College of Philadelphia Architecture student Enisa Nazaj, art has always been an interest and a hobby that she’s kept close. In fact, it’s what inspired her to choose her major and challenge her drawing skills further. It’s also what inspired her to apply for a Parx Gender Activism Micro Grant earlier this year—to create artistic postcard designs celebrating Women’s History Month.

Enisa is an international student, new to Philadelphia and to the United States. She is originally from Albania and came here at the suggestion of her cousin to affordably pursue an education. “Ever since I came here, I thought that the best way to get settled and get involved was to look at the College’s engagement opportunities,” Enisa said. While browsing the organizations and clubs that she could join, Enisa signed up to get emails from the Gender and Sexuality Resource Center. This is how she learned about the Parx Gender Activism Micro Grant. “I got an email, and I just applied. I didn't know I would actually get it.”

Enisa’s project consisted of creating artistic postcards that incorporated historic female figures and inspirational quotes. Some of them even included images of inspiring CCP alumni. “I remember that always in my home country, we would do postcards, me and my cousins. It was like a tradition,” Enisa said. She wanted to take this personal tradition and turn it into a way to share women’s strengths and celebrate women around the world during Women’s History Month.

After being awarded the grant, Enisa took the next few months to create five different postcard designs by hand that would then be copied and printed to distribute at CCP events celebrating Women’s History Month. “It was about their character and the story of each of these women, what they had been through and what they had achieved,” Enisa said about her artistic vision. “Some of the quotes were about strength. Some of them were about inspiration.” All of them celebrated women and their achievements.

Enisa is so glad that she pursued this opportunity and feels like it helped her get more connected to people in her community at CCP. “I really enjoyed it. I met some very cool people at the [Gender and Sexuality Resource] Center, some very pleasant women, and it was fun to do the postcards,” Enisa said. “It was a good way to pass my free time, like to be productive, actually. And I would love to do it again or do similar things.” Enisa was awarded $500 for her work on this project, and additional funds to print and produce the postcards.

Congratulations to Enisa for being awarded and successfully completing this Parx Gender Activism Micro Grant project.